192. Слово в день Успения Пресвятыя Богородицы 657

(Printed in the 1844 and 1848 collections) And as they walked, He Himself came into the whole place: and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house. (Luke 10:38). Blessed are you, not glorious and completely unknown by name, for Christ, the Lord of glory, visits you. Blessed are you, perhaps not a rich house: for Christ, rich in mercy, comes under your roof. Zacchaeus was perishing from the passion of covetousness: but as soon as Christ visited his house, on that same day “salvation came to this house” (Luke 19:9). There will be salvation for the house of Martha, who received the Savior, without a doubt. Blessed is every place or house that is worthy of a visit from the Divine. Most blessed is the person who worthily receives the Divine visitation. For if the incontainable God visits a place, it is in order to visit a person and make an abode for Himself in his soul. And what does it mean that the Gospel story of Christ’s visit is so often proclaimed to us by the Church? Doesn't she want to arouse in us a thirst for Divine visits? Doesn’t he want to teach us how to attract and how to receive it worthily? O High Door of Divine visitations, living city of the living God, preeminent abode of Christ! “Mary,” more blessed than she who “chose the good part,” for You chose, or better yet, You were chosen, by the whole and all-perfect good, You before all, but also for the sake of all who sit in darkness, “visited the East from above” (Luke 1:78), and not only visited, but also dwelt in You, and under Your canopy, the Supreme Visitor of souls! As you depart from us at the door of the tomb to mutually visit Him and dwell with Him in His glory, leave behind us the doors of mercy open behind You. Remember Him about the humble weight at the crossroads of the world, which nevertheless belongs to His kingdom, about the fragile hut in the vale of corruption, which He Himself, and for Himself, built. Let the soul not thirst in vain for His grace-filled visit, and let the visiting grace not come in vain in a soul that cannot meet and receive. I hear my soul say: oh, if only God would visit me with His gracious visit! How could I not accept Him with reverence, with zeal, in a way that pleases the Visitor? Contrary to this, it is much more fair to say: oh, if only you were capable, disposed, ready to receive a worthy visitation of grace! Is it possible that God will not soon visit you, Who, according to Job’s contemplation, “attends with his mind” to man, “visits him every morning, and tests him at every moment” (Job 7:17-18). But what prevents a person from successfully seeking God and worthily receiving His grace-filled visits? – The Gospel story about Martha, who received the Lord into her home, shows for our admonition that the greatest obstacle to this is worldly care, or attachment to earthly things. Martha no longer only sought or desired a visit from Christ, but also received it. “They will receive Him into their house.” She received Him with reverence: for she called Him Lord, and from Him she asked commands for her sister, being able to rule in her own house. “Lord, are you not delusional, because my sister has left me alone? “For her sake,” Martha received the Lord with zeal: for she carefully prepared to treat Him, as Abraham did during the Lord’s visit to him. “Martha spoke of many services.” Doesn’t this encourage us to think that she accepted Christ worthily and pleasingly to Him? – Don’t rush into a decisive opinion. Wait for the judgment of Christ. What does the Lord say? - He does not approve of the reception that Martha gave Him, and bestows a preferential blessing on Mary, about whom Martha complained. What is the reason for this? What can you reproach Martha for? She is rooted in the cares of life. “Martho, Marfo, you grieved and spoke of the multitude” (Luke 10:38–41). If in this way the grace-filled visitation already received was damaged by worldly care, and more or less stole the fruit of it: can it not still hinder and harm those who are just beginning to seek God and His grace? Upon careful examination of the Gospel narrative, one can discern some special actions by which worldly care prevents a person from pleasing God, and acquiring His grace, or preserving what has been acquired. It entertains and confuses. It clouds the eye of the mind in discerning the light of truth. It weakens the will in choosing the best. The cares of life amuse and confuse. - Look at Martha. Christ is in her house, the One for Whom multitudes of people ran through villages and deserts to see Him, to hear His word. - He Whom “many prophets and kings desired to see and did not see” (Luke 10:24), - Whose “day”, already familiar with Divine visits, “Abraham was glad to see”, and when he “saw” only from afar, “he rejoiced” (John 8:56), the sought-after, longed-for, for Martha is close, we see, we hear. What about Martha? Does he rejoice in Him? Does he enjoy seeing Him and hearing His words? - Doubtful. She has a different occupation, different thoughts and feelings. She thinks and cares about flour and oil, about bread and fishes. The Divine Teacher of truth, the Giver of grace, is almost absent for her: “Martha spoke of many services.” Indignation at her sister, who does not share this concern, finally turns her to the Lord: but she also seeks help from Him only in order to increase care and entertainment, and to involve others in the same. “And you began to say: Lord, are you not delusional, because my sister has left me alone to serve? Rtsy for her; yes it will help me." Think, Christian, that Christ the Lord either really visits the house of your soul, or stands at the door, and waits for you to “receive Him into your home.” If this does not seem quite probable: it is not our word that we assure you. Hear how He himself announces himself to all of us: “Behold, I stand at the door, and it is good news: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me” (Rev. 3:20). Shall we say to this: we do not see You, O Lord, standing; can't we hear your shuffling? - Inappropriate dispute! The Lord does not deceive us; “He will be justified” in “all His words” (Ps. 50:6). How does it happen that He stands at the door, but we do not see; he's talking, but we can't hear? - Just like this happened with Martha. Everyday care draws us from object to object, from occupation to occupation, from care to care: and as our cares for the most part are not as successful as we would like; then failure confuses us, lack of help upsets us, obstacles from others irritate us; desires and passions rustle like winds, like waves; we worry in vain; we worry ourselves, to our own harm and danger; the soul, overwhelmed externally and internally, does not notice the meek presence, does not hear the quiet voice of longed-for and saving grace. Worldly worries cloud the mind before the light of truth and grace. – The Lord denounces such a darkening of the mind in Martha when he tells her that “there is only one thing that is needed” (Luke 10:42). How, before this admonition, did she not, by herself, understand this truth, if not deeply, at least in the simple and open meaning of the words? Let us suppose that she could not suddenly rise to comprehend how the only thing needed is God, and His word, and His kingdom, according to what was said: “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4); and again: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33). But having received Christ into her home, and consequently having some knowledge about Him in advance, how did she not understand at least that for Rexhago: “My food is, that I may do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34), for Him who fasted forty days and nights, for Who fed many thousands of people with a few loaves, are not many kinds of food and drink needed? How could she not guess that the One who came into the world, “to testify to the truth” (John 18:37), who calls Himself the bread of animals, who calls those who thirst to Himself, is not pleased by the fact that He is offered in abundance the things that perish, but rather by the fact that from Him they receive from Him the things that do not perish, the living water, the word of truth and salvation? - No! She who cares about the multitude did not understand this; – I didn’t understand because I was worried about the problem; because the habit of being busy with everyday things, of caring about everyday things like lead, aggravated the crook of the mind, and did not allow one to rise to spiritual understanding. Isn’t it so among us, Christians, although they are under the same roof with Christ, as it really happens in His church, although they almost see Him in the sacrament, although they hear Him in the Gospel, they do not know how to use and enjoy so many benefits? The Gospel is not quite clear to us; the sacrament is very closed; prayer is tiring. We don’t know how they find Divine light in the Gospel, Divine power in the sacrament, Divine joy, bliss, and heaven in prayer. And why are we not given spiritual intelligence and pure contemplation? – Because worldly care binds our mind, burdens it with heavy earthly attachments, covers it with the darkness of sensual, vain, unclean thoughts; from an eagle, which should be looking at the Sun of spiritual and Divine truth in the pure air, turns it into a mole, burrowing in the ground, in the dust and corruption of worldly, carnal affairs, alien to the spirit. Worldly worries weaken the will in choosing the best. “Mary has chosen the good part,” says the Lord. She chose to “sit at the foot of Jesus and hear His word.” Why didn’t the other sister choose this good part? Didn't she want to draw closer to Jesus? But this desire appeared in her even before it appeared in Mary, when “Martha received Him into her home.” Why did one seed of desire not equally grow and bear fruit? – Because in Mary’s heart it grew freely, but in Martha’s heart it was drowned out by the tares of worldly care. "Rumor about the many services". By the will of her spirit, she strove for the Lord and attracted Him to herself; but with her inclination toward worldly things, she was distracted from spiritually pleasing Him to bodily service, and did not achieve a grace-filled closeness to Him. And at any time, and everywhere, one can notice how differently the desire for grace and salvation acts in souls, depending on whether it is free, complete and individual in them, or whether in its action it is divided, subdued, weakened by some desire of earthly nature and worldly inclination. We see people who, over the course of many years, only begin the work of their salvation, and do not raise it to perfection; They search for God for a long time and do not find it; they see some dawn of grace above them, and cannot wait until the day it “illuminates” their heart. Why is this? – Because they begin the work of salvation, but, due to their attachment to earthly and worldly things, do not completely abandon the work of destruction; they are looking for God, but do not want to lose creatures; they are waiting for the consolation of grace, but do not want to part with the consolations of corrupt nature. On the contrary, we see those who begin to serve God later than others, and are more successful in doing so than others. The prodigal son anticipates his elder brother in the grace of the Father. Magdalene from the depths of sin, and almost hellish (since part of hell lived in her), ascends to the degree of Equal-to-the-Apostles. Saul the persecutor is suddenly transformed into Paul the Apostle. “Publicans and fornicators boil in the kingdom of God” (Matthew 21:31) those who pretend to be natural sons of this kingdom. How are such miracles performed? - Strong, decisive, conquering and killing all earthly desires with the desire for grace and salvation. Therefore, the word of God strongly opposes mixing worldly cares and passions with spiritual desires and aspirations. “No one,” it says, “can work for two masters” (Matthew 6:24). So, if you are a slave of worldly cares, how can you be at the same time a servant of God? – “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). So, if “your treasure” - what you desire, what you love, what you passionately care about, is on earth: then how can it be that your “heart” can be found in heaven with God? - “No one, having been a warrior, undertakes the purchases of everyday life; that it may be pleasing to the commander” (2 Tim. 2:4). So, if you realize internally that your spiritual disposition is still firmly tied to everyday things, then how can you flatter yourself with the thought that you are pleasing to the Leader Christ, the conqueror of the world? He who is attentive to the saving ways of God's providence, not without fear, will see how sometimes God Himself, preparing a person for His special visit, or gift of grace, with a strong hand and a high muscle breaks the bonds that tie him to earthly and worldly things. What wondrous visits God granted to Abraham! But what deprivations he demanded from him for this! “Get out,” he was told, “from your land, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house” (Gen. 12:1). Why not, it seems, come to Jacob and God's visitation and blessing when Isaac blessed him in his house? “But he was taken from the arms of pious parents; with danger, without help, without a companion, brought to an unknown place; He bowed his weary head on a deserted stone, and - here he found for himself the house of God, and the visitation of God, and the powerful blessing of God. What path brought Joseph to the grace of a magician and to the glory of a savior? – The Egyptian Way, pilgrimage, slavery, prison. When and where did God most reveal himself to the people of Israel? - Then, how he was torn away from Egypt, and still tied to the Promised Land - where the land did not attract him with anything earthly, and in everything sent him to Heaven. What are we waiting for when we hesitate to renounce worldly addictions? Is it so that God draws us to Himself with a “strong hand,” with a special strong attraction, like Abraham? – But wouldn’t such an expectation be bold, wouldn’t it be dreamy? Or that God would bring down on us a “high arm” (Ex. 6:1; Ps. 136:12), and through involuntary hardships, troubles, sorrows, defeats, crush the shining shackles in which the world and the flesh contain us? – But is it necessary to wait for this, or to prevent it if possible? – Should rational and free beings, like those “who have no reason,” wait until “with the bridle and the bridle of their jaws you have caught those who do not approach You?” (Ps.31:9) Let us cease, brethren, to delay and put off; Let us hasten to relieve ourselves of a burden that, perhaps, we know is not enough of a burden, because we have not yet experienced walking without it - the burden of worldly addictions. In the ordinary affairs and exercises of life, let us put aside unnecessary, over-anxious, vain care, which comes from immoderate desires, from an unfounded judgment about things, from a lack of faith in God and trust in His Providence. Since we are called especially to the works of God, to prayer, to study in the word of God, to spiritual exploits in order to obtain the grace of God, “let us now put aside all worldly cares,” so that we may receive in our souls and hearts the visitation of the Lord, and in it we recognize and find both “the only thing we need” and the “good part” that “will not be taken away” from us in time and in eternity. Amen. The place and time of recitation is unknown. We place it here as included in the 1844 collection. You might be interested in: